Benefactor Mat Gaberty dies

Mat Gaberty may have made his name as a public official, but he left a legacy as a champion for good health.

A former Macomb County road commissioner and the driving force behind the heart center in Mount Clemens that bears his name, Gaberty died Monday.

He was 86.

“He was a good guy,” said Ted Wahby, Macomb County treasurer and longtime Gaberty friend. “We’re going to miss him.”

Gaberty is best known as founder of the Mat Gaberty Heart Fund, an organization dedicated to raising money to fight heart disease. His commitment to heart health had its roots in his brushes with heart disease among family members, friends and even himself.

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Gaberty’s father died of a heart attack when Mat Gaberty was just 18 years old. Later, he lost two close friends to heart disease. Still later, Gaberty himself underwent open-heart surgery.

After that health scare, Gaberty and his friends formed the Mat Gaberty Heart Fund in 1981 and began a successful stint raising money, primarily through the Mat Gaberty Golf Classic, an annual golf tournament that proved popular throughout southeast Michigan.

His efforts — the amount of money raised topped $2 million several years ago — led in 1989 to the opening of the Mat Gaberty Heart Institute at Mount Clemens General Hospital, the first facility of its kind in Macomb County.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s also been the greatest satisfaction of my whole life,” Gaberty said in a 2002 interview. “It’s a great feeling to know that we have truly made a difference here in the county.”

Now called the Mat Gaberty Heart Center, the medical facility offers comprehensive heart care and has been cited as one of the top 100 cardio-vascular sites in the nation. Mount Clemens General is now known as McLaren Macomb.

On two occasions — in 1987 and 2002 — the hospital’s foundation honored Gaberty as its Citizen of the Year.

“He truly made a difference in the lives of our patients, staff, physicians and all of the residents of Macomb County,” Mark O’Halla, president & CEO at McLaren Macomb said in a statement. “The commitment, dedication and limitless energy he shared with McLaren Macomb over the many years will be greatly missed.”

Mitch Kehetian, retired Macomb Daily managing editor, covered Gaberty during his days as a road commissioner and later during Gaberty’s “second career” as an advocate for heart health.

“That was the pride of his life,” Kehetian said referring to the heart center. “We used to drive by it when we went out to lunch … He was real proud of that.”

In addition to his dedication to fighting heart disease, Gaberty worked as a public official for most of his life. He served four terms as an elected member of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, 18 years as a county road commissioner and also served on the St. Clair Shores Planning Commission.

Wahby remembered when Gaberty provided a boost for Wahby’s first St. Clair Shores mayoral campaign.

“When I first ran for mayor, Mat put up a 4-foot-by-8-foot sign (that read), ‘Vote for Wahby,’” the county treasurer recalled.

In those days, a sign that large was unusual, Wahby said. So was the location where Gaberty placed it.

“He put it right by the freeway,” Wahby said.

Wahby also recalled when Gaberty used his influence as a road commissioner to complete a long-awaited project in St. Clair Shores: the widening and resurfacing of Harper Avenue.